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F. H. GLADWISIL Decoy Bird. i No. 231,906. Patenfed sept.'7,1s:so.

/Wfiuw v ,UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK H. GIlADWISH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

DECOY-BIRD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,906, dated September '7, 1880.

` Application fledDecember 26, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, FREDERICK H. GLAD- WISH, of Brooklymin the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Decoy-Birds, of which the following is a specification.

Decoys have heretofore been made in which the wings have been moved by a cord that passes to the fowler, and others have been made in imitation of a water-fowl, anda string has been connected for the foWler to pull the decoy and cause it to be partially immersed.

My improved decoy is made for imitating a live duck or other bird, by causing the head to turn around more nor less by the action of the ripples of water in-which the decoy is ioating.

l make the headiand neck separate from the bod y, but secured thereto by an axial pin passing through the body and terminating with/a lever, to which a wire or string is secured leading to an anchoring-weight, so that the decoy is free to HOaLaruml under the induence of wind or current, and the ripples of the water moving the body cause the tension on the anchoring wire or string to vary, and by the lever the head of the decoy is turned Inore or less and moved, or else the head is held While the water moves the body, so as to give a life-like appearance to the decoy.

In the drawings I have represented in Figure L the decoy in elevation, the body and neck at the axis being in section. Figs. 2 and 3 are plans of modifications ol' the anchoringlever.

a represents the body of the decoy, bV the neck, and c the head. This may correspond to a duck, a goose, or' any other water-fowl.

The axial pin d, preferably ot' brass, passes freely through a hole in the body a, and is screwed into the neck b, or otherwise securely fastened thereto.

The base of the neck and the corresponding part of the body should be provided with metal plates e and t, so as to prevent the movement of the parts beingobstructed by the swelling' of the wood, and a metal plate, at l, should also be provided for the lower part of the axis to pass through. This axial pin d is connected with or bent off laterally to form the lever m, and to the end thereof the Wire or cord a is attached, and passes to an anchoring-weight, such as a metal block, at o. It is usually best to have the wire of copper, and allow it to be rather crooked, so that it will act as a spring to move the head as the body of the decoy tloats upon the water and is Inoved by the ripples thereof.

When not in use the lever m can be swung around beneath the body of the decoy, as illustrated by dotted lines, and the wire twisted around the body.

The lever may be made in the form of a flexible bow-spring, as indica-ted by the detached plan view, Fig. 2, or as a jointed lever with a spring, as seen in Fig. 3, so that the head will be turned by the varying tension of the anchoring cord or Wire straightening the iexible lever more or less.

I claim as my invention- 1. The decoy-bird having a head that is not an integral part of the body, in combination with an axis connected -to the head and passing through the body, and a lever at the lower end of the axial pin, substantially as set forth.

2. A decoy-bird having a movable head connected to the body, in combination with mechanism, substantially as set forth, for moving the head relatively to the body, as specified.

Signed by me this 20th day of December, 1879.'

FREDK. H. GLADWISH. Witnesses GEO. T. PINGKNEY, LEMUEL W. SEREELL. 

